Comments on: World’s most powerful laser developed in Texas http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/ Gadgets, gear and computer hardware. Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:28:37 -0500 hourly 1 By: Doug Aamoth http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/comment-page-1/#comment-661854 Doug Aamoth Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:21:57 +0000 http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/#comment-661854 Yeah. I wasn't quite sure how it could output all that energy with out using at least that much energy and then some. Seems impossible. Yeah. I wasn’t quite sure how it could output all that energy with out using at least that much energy and then some. Seems impossible.

]]> By: SwissFreek http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/comment-page-1/#comment-661667 SwissFreek Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:55:04 +0000 http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/#comment-661667 Just to clarify my skepticism with you statement about solving the world's energy woes: If you multiply the amount of power that that laser emits (1x10^15 watts) by the amount of time that it was emitting (1x10^-13 seconds = 1.667x10^-15 hours), you get 1.667 watt-hours. To put that into perspective, if you leave a 60-watt lightbulb on for an hour, that's 60 watt-hours. You 1000-watt PC power supply (at full capacity) for an hour, that's 1000 watt-hours (or 1 kilowatt-hour, the basic unit for which your power company charges you something like $0.10 or $0.15). SO, if you leave that 60-watt bulb on for an hour, it will consume 40 times the energy that this laser put out. Just. one. bulb. What's more, the energy needs to come from somewhere. The laser didn't CREATE energy, it BURNED energy. Long comment, I know, but that statement made my brain hurt. Let the engineers do the thinking. Just to clarify my skepticism with you statement about solving the world’s energy woes:

If you multiply the amount of power that that laser emits (1×10^15 watts) by the amount of time that it was emitting (1×10^-13 seconds = 1.667×10^-15 hours), you get 1.667 watt-hours. To put that into perspective, if you leave a 60-watt lightbulb on for an hour, that’s 60 watt-hours. You 1000-watt PC power supply (at full capacity) for an hour, that’s 1000 watt-hours (or 1 kilowatt-hour, the basic unit for which your power company charges you something like $0.10 or $0.15). SO, if you leave that 60-watt bulb on for an hour, it will consume 40 times the energy that this laser put out. Just. one. bulb.

What’s more, the energy needs to come from somewhere. The laser didn’t CREATE energy, it BURNED energy.

Long comment, I know, but that statement made my brain hurt. Let the engineers do the thinking.

]]> By: SwissFreek http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/comment-page-1/#comment-661632 SwissFreek Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:36:03 +0000 http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/#comment-661632 "Maybe, though, we could use the beam for energy since it’s more than 2,000 times the output of all power plants in the United States." Uh... What? “Maybe, though, we could use the beam for energy since it’s more than 2,000 times the output of all power plants in the United States.”

Uh… What?

]]> By: SwissFreek http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/comment-page-1/#comment-661628 SwissFreek Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:34:51 +0000 http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/04/17/worlds-most-powerful-laser-developed-in-texas/#comment-661628 "I’m all for studying the universe, but maybe we could eradicate everyone’s home energy bills..." Funny. “I’m all for studying the universe, but maybe we could eradicate everyone’s home energy bills…”

Funny.

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